Quality Street (1937)

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Siskoid
In Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie was interested in youth; in Quality Street, he proved equally interested in maturity. The play was adapted for the big screen twice, the second in 1937 starring Katharine Hepburn as a schoolmarm and spinster (oh God no, not THIRTY!!!!) Phoebe Throssel whose clueless beau (Franchot Tone) enlisted in the army and was gone for ten years leaving her without prospects. When he returns, he's just as clueless, and then through a series of misunderstandings, he seems to become more interested in Phoebe's young niece Livy who is just an identity Phoebe invented and is just her dressing and acting younger, putting social attitudes towards age to the test. It goes where you think it will and doesn't, and there's good fun to be had with the street wags who are just as interested in the mysterious niece as the boys from the army are. I had a few chuckles - though perhaps not at Eric Blore's expressive mugging, sorry Blore fans, I don't think I get the attraction. 3 years 11 months ago